The present invention relates to a vehicle tire of a radial carcass construction with a low cross-sectional profile having a tread portion that is reinforced by a belt layer. The tread portion comprises a plurality of circumferential tread element bands in a center portion of the tread portion and one shoulder tread element row on either side of the center portion. The tread element bands are separated from one another and from the shoulder tread element rows in an axial direction of the vehicle tire by respective wide and deep circumferential grooves that have straight edges. The tread element bands have notches that are distributed in a circumferential direction of the vehicle tire and are oriented at a first angle relative to a center plane of the vehicle tire. The notches begin at the circumferential grooves and end within the tread element bands. The shoulder tread element rows comprise transverse tread elements that are separated from one another by transverse grooves and are arranged transverse relative to the center plane of the vehicle tire.
A tire tread of the aforementioned kind has been known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,387,754. The quality requirements for such vehicle tires of a radial carcass construction with a low cross-sectional profile include: excellent general driving characteristics, good performance on wet roads, and low noise emission of the tread portion. In order to realize these demands which are partially contradictory, a certain tread design is required as well as a modern tire construction. It has been demonstrated that wide tire treads, in general, exhibit excellent driving characteristics.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to improve the performance of vehicle tires especially on wet roads and reduce the noise emission by providing a suitable tire tread.